Silicon Valley Wire

WSJ: Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Track to Return by End of June

Cupertino, Calif. -- Steve Jobs, the CEO of Cupertino-based Apple, is on track to return to the company at the end of this month following six months of medical leave, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. It's still unclear whether Jobs will appear next week at the company's developers' conference in San Francisco, where Apple is expected to release new iPhone software and possibly a new iPhone model. Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer, announced in January that he would take a medical leave of absence. Since then, some Apple directors have received weekly updates about Jobs' condition, one source told The Journal. "He was one real sick guy,'' the source told the paper. "Fundamentally he was starving to death over a nine-month period. He couldn't digest protein. [But] he took corrective action.''
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124415751596986965.html (subscription required)
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10509883/1/apples-jobs-reportedly-ready-to-return.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Napa-Based New Vine to Resume Operations Following IBG Investment

Napa, Calif. -- Inertia Beverage Group (IBG), a Napa-based developer of online tools that let wineries manage direct sales, said on Friday that it has reached a deal with Silicon Valley Bank that will allow New Vine Logistics, a Napa-based provider of compliance and fulfillment services to the wine industry, to resume operations. Under the deal, IBG will purchase the bank's debt position in the company, then provide New Vine with an undisclosed amount of interim cash funding. The news comes a week after New Vine abruptly ceased operations amidst financial problems. "Operations are already gearing up and we are confident in the ability of New Vine's operational team and employees to quickly respond," said Ted Jansen, the president and CEO of IBG. Founded in 2001, New Vine has developed fulfillment systems that allow wineries to directly ship their products to 44 states.
http://www.newvinelogistics.com/
http://www.inertiabev.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090605005653/en

Forecast: 2009 Chip Sales to Decline 21.3%

San Jose, Calif. -- The San Jose-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) on Friday released its mid-year forecast projecting that sales of computer chips will drop 21.3% in 2009 to $195.6 billion. The industry has been hurt in recent months by weak consumer demand as a result of the ongoing recession. The organization, however, also predicted that sales will soon begin to rebound, projecting annual growth of 6.5% in both 2010 and 2011.
http://www.sia-online.org
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090605005139/en

Intel to Acquire Alameda's Wind River Systems for $884 Million

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Intel, the Santa Clara-based chip-making giant, said on Thursday that it will pay $884 million in cash to acquire Wind River Systems, an Alameda-based developer of software for embedded computing systems. Under the deal, expected to close this summer, Intel will pay $11.50 a share, with Wind River becoming part of the company's Software and Services Group. Intel said that the acquisition will allow it to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional PC and server markets, into embedded systems and mobile handheld devices like smart phones, mobile Internet devices and in-car "info-tainment" systems. Wind River's technology is used by most major computer and networking communications companies, as well as clients such as Alcatel-Lucent, BMW, Boeing, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NASA, Sony and Verizon.
http://www.intel.com
http://www.windriver.com
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20090604corp.htm?iid=pr1_releasepri_20090604r

EMC Pushing Data Domain Shareholders to Accept Latest Offer

Santa Clara, Calif. -- A day after Sunnyvale-based NetApp increased its offer to acquire Santa Clara-based data storage appliance firm Data Domain, competing bidder EMC on Thursday began campaigning for shareholders to accept its unsolicited bid for the company. "We are proceeding with our superior cash tender offer, which is not subject to any financing or due diligence contingency," wrote Joe Tucci, EMC's chairman, president and CEO. "EMC urges the board of directors of Data Domain to not take any actions that would further impede a transaction that is a superior alternative for Data Domain's shareholders." On Wednesday, NetApp raised its bid to $30 a share in cash and stock, or about $1.9 billion. Data Domain's board on Thursday requested that company shareholders defer their decision on EMC's competing offer until June 16, while the company reviews the bid. EMC's tender offer, which commenced two days ago, is currently set to expire on June 29.
http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2009/20090603-03.htm
http://www.datadomain.com/news/press_rel_060409.html

Justice Dept. Probes Hiring Practices at Silicon Valley Tech Firms

Washington, DC -- The Justice Department has launched an antitrust probe into the recruiting practices at technology firms including Mountain View-based Google, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo and Cupertino-based Apple, The Washington Post reported, citing people with knowledge of the investigation. The "industry-wide" review reportedly is focused on purported agreements between the companies to not hire top talent away from one another. "This could be collusive restraint on trade, which could have a serious impact on competition," Albert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, told The Post. Other companies said to be involved in the probe include Microsoft, Santa Clara-based Intel and South San Francisco-based Genentech. In recent years, Microsoft has sued Google and IBM has sued Apple for allegedly hiring away top employees, though both suits eventually were settled out of court. Reacting to the news, Erick Schonfeld, co-editor of the popular blog TechCrunch, called the practice of stealing employees from each other "a way of life" for tech companies, particularly given the ultra-competitive employment market of Silicon Valley.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060203412.html
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/03/once-again-the-justice-department-is-confused-tech-companies-steal-employees-from-each-other-every-day/

Court Orders EchoStar to Pay TiVo $103M in Patent Case

Alviso, Calif. -- TiVo, the Alviso-based provider of DVR recorders and programming services, said that a federal court has ordered DISH Network operator EchoStar to pay the company more than $103 million in damages for infringing on its digital video recorder patent. TiVo first sued EchoStar in 2004 for patent infringement. A jury found in TiVo's favor in 2006, and that ruling has since been upheld twice by federal appellate courts. Following the initial ruling, EchoStar said that its engineers "spent close to a year designing-around TiVo's patent and removed the very features that TiVo said infringed at trial." The court ruled this week, however, that EchoStar's "workaround" constituted contempt of court on its preliminary injunction. "We are disappointed in the District Court's decision finding us in contempt. DISH Network will appeal, and will file a motion to stay the order with the Federal Circuit," EchoStar said in a statement. "We believe a stay is warranted and that we have strong grounds for appeal."
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-02-2009/0005037328&EDATE=
http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20090602/LA2679002062009-1.html

Sunnyvale-Based NetApp Raises Offer for Data Domain

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Two days after seeing its offer for Data Domain trumped by EMC, Sunnyvale-based NetApp on Wednesday raised its bid for the Santa Clara-based storage appliance firm to $30 a share in cash and stock. NetApp's offer, valued at about $1.9 billion, is about $400 million more than its original offer of May 20, which Data Domain had accepted, and around $100 million more than EMC's counter offer on Monday. At the time, EMC, said that it planned to launch a cash tender offer for outstanding shares of the company. NetApp said that adding Data Domain's products would help expand its reach in the market for heterogeneous disk-based backup.
http://www.datadomain.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/NetApp-Makes-Revised-Offer-to-iw-15422780.html 

Redwood City-Based MyBuys Raises $7 Million in Second Round

Redwood City, Calif. -- MyBuys, a Redwood City-based provider of personalized product recommendations for online retailers, said that it has raised $7 million in its second round of funding, from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Palomar Ventures. The company said that it will use the proceeds to invest in products, client services and market expansion. MyBuys said that it has added 30 new retail clients this year -- including DELiA's and Peruvian Connection -- increasing its client list to more than 100. The company's technology is designed to build profiles based on the behavior of individual shoppers, then deliver recommendations to them on the web and through email.
http://www.mybuys.com
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Mybuys-998070.html

S.F.-Based OpenTV Rejects Takeover Bid from Kudelski Group

San Francisco -- OpenTV, a San Francisco-based developer of interactive TV software and services, said that its board of directors has rejected an unsolicited takeover bid by  Swiss content protection technology firm Kudelski Group. Kudeslski in February had offered $1.35 a share -- or about $127 million -- to acquire shares of the company that it doesn't already own. It acquired voting control of OpenTV through a deal with Liberty Media more than two years ago. A special committee of OpenTV's board labeled the latest offer "inadequate and not in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders."
http://www.opentv.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090602006769/en

Study: Silicon Valley Leads North America in Strength of Tech Industry

San Jose, Calif. -- Silicon Valley -- including San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara -- continues to lead all metropolitan regions in North America in terms of the economic activity that it creates through its technology industry, according to a new study by the Milken Institute. The study ranked 393 high-tech regions in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, based on data such as employment and wages in 19 specific tech industries. The Seattle area came in at No. 2, followed by Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, Mass.; the Washington, DC area and the Los Angeles area. The area encompassing San Francisco, San Mateo and Redwood City also ranked No. 10 on its own, while Oakland, Fremont and Hayward came in 15th.  Ross DeVol, the report's author, said that cities with the strongest high-tech bases will perform best as the economy recovers, since the jobs generated by those fields pay so well. "Every sector has been impacted by the current economic downturn, but high-tech centers will come out on top," said DeVol. The complete rankings are available at the link below.
http://www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/publications.taf?function=detail&ID=38801199&cat=resrep

Redwood City-Based Versartis Lands $11 Million in First Round

Redwood City, Calif. -- Versartis, a Redwood City-based biotech joint venture between Mountain View-based Amunix and Index Ventures, said that it has landed $11 million in its first round of funding from Index. Under the deal, Index has the option to invest another $5 million. Versartis is developing drugs based on Amunix's technology, with a focus on metabolic disease and endocrinology. The company will use the new funds to progress its compounds into human clinical trials.
http://www.versartis.com 
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Versartis-Inc-997935.html

Report: Time Spent on Facebook Rises 700% in Year

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Users of Palo Alto-based online social network Facebook spent seven times as much time on the site in April as the prior year, while the time spent on its chief rival, MySpace, actually decreased 31%, according to new figures from Nielsen Online. Total minutes spent on Facebook grew from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion this April. Meanwhile, minutes on MySpace fell to just under 5 million. "We have seen some major growth in Facebook during the past year, and a subsequent decline in MySpace," said Jon Gibs, Nielsen Online's vice president of online media and agency insights. "The one thing that is clear about social networking is that regardless of how fast a site is growing or how big it is, it can quickly fall out of favor with consumers." The news comes a week after Facebook received a $200 million investment from Eastern European financing group Digital Sky Technologies (DST) in a deal that values the company at $10 billion.
http://www.nielsen-online.com/pr/pr_090602.pdf (PDF)

Mountain View-Based Intuit to Acquire PayCycle for $170 Million

Mountain View, Calif. -- Intuit, the Mountain View-based developer of financial software such as QuickBooks and TurboTax, said on Tuesday that it will pay approximately $170 million in cash to acquire PayCycle, a Palo Alto-based developer of online payroll services used by more than 85,000 small businesses. The deal, expected to close after mid-year, will allow Intuit to offer lower-cost alternatives to payroll outsourcing services, while also allowing accountants to more easily provide stand-along payroll services to small business clients. The two companies are quite familiar with one another, with Jim Heeger, the CEO of PayCycle, a former CFO at Intuit. PayCycle will become part of Intuit's small business group.
http://www.intuit.com 
http://www.paycycle.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090602006451/en

S.F.-Based Women's Blog Network Sugar Gets $16M, Buys Shopflick.com

San Francisco - Sugar Inc., the San Francisco-based operator of a blog network focused on women that counts over 10 million unique monthly visitors, said on Tuesday that it has raised $16 million in its third round of funding from Sequoia Capital, using a portion of the funds to acquire video shopping site Shopflick.com. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. In related moves, the company said it also said that it has repurchased shares that it sold to NBC Universal in 2007, and announced the launch of Sugar Digital Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based unit that will branch into web video, TV, film, video games and other areas. The new unit will be headed by David Grant, a former president of Fox TV Studios and the founder and CEO of Shopflick.com. Founded in 2006, Sugar operates sites including PopSugar, FitSugar and GeekSugar.
http://www.sugarinc.com
http://www.sugarinc.com/3229514

Burlingame-Based Cloudera Raises Another $6 Million

Burlingame, Calif. -- Less than three months after announcing its first round of funding, Burlingame-Based Cloudera, a provider of services and support for Hadoop open source data processing software, said on Tuesday that it has raised another $6 million in its second round. Greylock Partners led the round, which increased the company's total backing to more than $11 million. Previous investor Accel Partners also participated. Founded in late 2008, Cloudera is aiming to bring Hadoop technology, currently used by large Internet companies like Facebook, Google and Yahoo to store and process large amounts of data, into average corporate data centers.
http://www.cloudera.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Cloudera-the-Commercial-iw-15410947.html

Emeryville-Based Lithium Acquires S.F.-Based Keibi Technologies

Emeryville, Calif. -- Lithium Technologies, the Emeryville-based developer of a platform that lets businesses create their own social networks and online communities, said on Tuesday that it has acquired San Francisco-based Keibi Technologies, developer of a platform that allows online communities to monitor content for appropriateness. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lithium, which has raised more than $21 million in funding, including a $12 million round led by Benchmark Capital in July, said that the acquisition will allow its clients to moderate user-generated content that might impact their brands on the web. "The largest companies in the world now use social media every day to engage with their customers, but protecting their brands remains a pressing concern," said Lyle Fong, the CEO of Lithium Technologies. He said that Keibi's technology automates the content analysis process, "ensuring that inappropriate material doesn’t damage a customer’s brand." The platform, already in use by AOL's Bebo social networking site, quickly processes large volumes of user-generated content -- including text, images, animations and video -- then measures and scores content across multiple dimensions.
http://www.lithium.com
http://www.keibitech.com/
http://www.lithium.com/events/press/58/

Eight Bay Area Organizations Make New CIO 100 List

San Francisco -- Eight Bay Area organizations have been named to CIO Magazine's newly released 2009 CIO 100, which honors "companies that are creating new business value by innovating with technology." Local winners include Alameda-based Wind River Systems, Napa-based Vin Lux Fine Wine Transport, Oakland-based Matson Navigation, San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric, San Jose-based Avago Technologies, San Mateo-based Con-way, Santa Clara-based Applied Materials and Sunnyvale-based NetApp. The complete list is available at the link below.
http://www.cio.com/cio100/2009/1

Mountain View-Based Integral Development Raises $11 Million

Mountain View, Calif. -- Integral Development, the Mountain View-based developer of an electronic foreign exchange platform, said on Monday that it has landed $11 million in a new round of funding, led by Adams Street Partners. The 16-year-old company said that it will use a portion of the proceeds to expand its sales and support organizations. Integral's web-based tools are designed to connect active market participants with all major sources of foreign exchange liquidity. Other backers include Accel Partners, Hudson Ventures, Ignite Group, Mizuho Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
http://www.integral.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/INTEGRAL-Receives-11m-bw-15394957.html?.v=1

Mountain View-Based NetLogic to Pay $183 Million for RMI

Mountain View, Calif. -- NetLogic Microsystems, a Mountain View-based developer of knowledge-based processors used in a variety of networking systems, said on Monday that it will pay approximately $183 million in cash and stock to acquire Cupertino-based RMI, a supplier of processors used in wireless infrastructure. The value of the deal could rise, based on the future performance of RMI, whose clients include Cisco Systems, Dell, HP, IBM, Juniper Networks, McAfee, Motorola and Sun Microsystems. NetLogic said that the deal will allow it to further expand into what it calls the "data-in-flight" processing segment. "We are excited by the opportunities presented by this merger because of the remarkable synergies in our technologies, markets, customers, geographic locations and company cultures," said Ron Jankov, the president and CEO of NetLogic.
http://www.netlogicmicro.com
http://www.rmicorp.com
http://www.netlogicmicro.com/4-news/pr/2009/09-06-01.htm

EMC Offers $1.8 Billion for Santa Clara-Based Data Domain

Santa Clara, Calif. -- EMC late Monday offered to pay $30 a share -- about $1.8 billion -- to acquire Santa Clara-based storage appliances firm Data Domain, trumping an earlier $1.5 billion that the company had accepted from Sunnyvale-based NetApp. EMC said it plans to launch a cash tender offer for outstanding shares of the company, then complete the deal with a merger. The news sent shares of Datas Domain up more than 16% in after-hours trading. "In comparison to your proposed transaction with NetApp, EMC's proposal represents a far superior alternative for your stockholders," Joseph Tucci, the company's chairman, president and CEO wrote in an open letter to Frank Slootman, the president and CEO of Data Domain. Tucci also expressed disappointment that "we were not given an opportunity to explore a business combination prior to the announcement of your proposed transaction with NetApp, particularly since I believe you should have been aware of our interest." The news comes less than two weeks after NetApp first announced plans to acquire Data Domain for $25 a share in cash and stock.
http://www.datadomain.com/404.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/EMC-Proposes-to-Acquire-Data-prnews-15403817.html?.v=1

NYT: Obama to Name Google's Andrew McLaughlin as Deputy CTO

Mountain View, Calif. -- The Obama administration plans to name Google executive Andrew McLaughlin to become the nation's Deputy CTO, The New York Times reported, citing two people with knowledge of the situation. McLaughlin, Google's head of global public policy and senior counsel, would report to Aneesh Chopra, who last month was named the nation's first CTO. The appointment would be the third in the Obama administration for a former Google executive, following the naming of Katie Stanton as director of citizen participation and Sonal Shah as head of the White House Office of Social Innovation. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Mountain View-based Google, has been a close advisor to the administration on technology issues. 
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/googles-top-policy-exec-to-join-obama-administration/

Menlo Park-Based Hara Launches with Backing from Kleiner Perkins

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Hara, a Menlo Park-based startup backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said on Monday that it has launched operations with the release of its web-based energy management software, designed to let users monitor and manage their natural resource consumption and environmental impact. The company already has more than a dozen clients, including Coca-Cola and the city of Palo Alto. "Our vision is to enable a post-carbon economy in which organizations can grow and profit without depleting the earth's resources," said Amit Chatterjee, the company's co-founder and CEO.
http://www.hara.com
http://hara.com/news_pressreleases_060109.html

Menlo Park-Based MashLogic Lands $500,000 for Contextual Links

Menlo Park, Calif. -- MashLogic, a Menlo Park-based developer of technology that provides contextual information about web sites, has raised $500,000 in angel funding, TechCrunch reported. Investors reportedly included SoftTech VC, About.com founder Scott Kurnit, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Wikia CEO Gil Penchina. The company to date has raised a total of $1.4 million. MashLogic offers browser tools for Firefox and Internet Explorer that can change the hyperlinks on a publisher's web site to include other relevant information, such as links to Wikipedia or LinkedIn profiles.
http://www.mashlogic.com
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/01/mashlogic-launches-adds-high-powered-angels-to-investor-list/

Santa Clara-Based McAfee Completes Deal for Cupertino-Based Solidcore

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Just two weeks after first announcing the deal, Santa Clara-based information security software firm McAfee said on Monday that it has completed its acquisition of Cupertino-based Solidcore Systems, a developer of IT infrastructure security technology. Under the agreement, McAfee paid about $33 million up front, and could pay as much as $14 million more, depending on the future performance of Solidcore. Solidcore has developed technology that it calls "dynamic whitelisting," designed to protect applications installed on a computer. "With this transaction, McAfee has significantly expanded its reach to include security for embedded devices," said George Kurtz, a senior vice president and general manager at McAfee.
http://www.Solidcore.com
http://newsroom.mcafee.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3529